[Eve_]

Another true Hollywood story, sports car style

While NASCAR is a sport of the masses, sports car racing has always been the playground for the elite. It's where the millionaire sportsman can test his racing skills in sports cars such as Porsches, Lexus and BMWs. And while the majority of the Rolex Grand Am Series is made up of professional race drivers, one driver continues a famous Hollywood legacy that has included Steve McQueen, James Garner and Paul Newman. Patrick Dempsey is the star of "Grey's Anatomy" on ABC after a film career that began as a youngster in such films as "Can't Buy Me Love," "Loverboy" and more recently "Sweet Home, Alabama" and "Made of Honor." When he isn't playing "Dr. Derek Shepherd (aka Dr. McDreamy)" on television, Dempsey is passionate about his role as a race driver in Rolex Grand American Racing. Earlier this year, Dempsey competed in the famed 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race in France. On Saturday, he drove in the Grand American Series season-finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. "At Le Mans, you realize in that race that it's about the country you represent" said Dempsey, a native of Maine. "We could feel that pressure and you really want to put the best foot forward on and off the track. It's about the country you represent and you feel that every time you get in the car. "It was one of those life-changing moments. It was a dream that I had and it came true. It took a long time for me to come down from that. "It was funny to go from Le Mans to Mid-Ohio and stay at some beat-up old hotel off the freeway, but we were very fortunate to be there and finish ninth." While McQueen had a victory at Sebring, the most successful actor/race driver was Newman, who won many sports car races and competed into his 80s. And country music legend Marty Robbins drove in 35 Cup races in NASCAR from the 1966-82, which included a fifth-place finish at Michigan in 1974. Dempsey continues that legacy of celebrity-turned-race driver. "McQueen, with a broken foot, finished second at Sebring, but look at what Paul Newman did on and off the track," Dempsey said. "Nobody comes close to that. They set the template and the shoes are there to follow. McQueen never had a chance to race as much as he would have liked. Paul Newman, on and off the track, what he did with his foundation was incredible. Newman took his celebrity and used it for something good. "Much is given and much is expected. To use your celebrity to help other people is important. "As for my racing, I'm a little disappointed with the results this year. If I'm consistent in the car, I think we can be at that point where we can win races and that is always the goal." Dempsey is also part-owner of Vision Racing's IndyCar Series team which is owned by former Indianapolis Motor Speedway CEO and Indy Racing league founder Tony George. "It's very difficult to balance out both series, but Tony and I were talking on Friday about stuff we would like to do in the 24 Hours of Daytona next year, but I'm very much a part of the team," Dempsey said. "When Ed Carpenter (Vision Racing's IndyCar Series driver) nearly won at Kentucky, I nearly lost my voice. It's nice to see the team has grown and very competitive. To see Ed drive so well through that race, he drove a smart race and it went down to the wire."

(Source)

[Eternal Flame]

thanks for posting Eve

[Bella Cullen]

Ohh more thanks for that!!

[Eve_]

Some footage of some of the races of the '09 season (mostly Dempsey-less tho)





Nice to see some of it again I am going through some serious racing withdrawls here!

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The Daytona test days are in 4 weeks
Not sure if DR and/or PD will be there, but it's still something to look forward to.

[WalaBridget]

Thanks for the vid Evie
He isn't racing those days though .

[Eve_]

He isn't racing those days though

Well that's because racing season has been over for more than a month!
Last race was in October...


Next race is the Daytona 24 Hours on January 30 & 31st
79 days to go !

[Bella Cullen]

Oh thanks for the new stuff!!

[WalaBridget]

Can't wait for him to go back to racing .

[Bella Cullen]

he should be back soon right? its not racing season is it?

[Eve_]

^ Did you read the previous posts?

[WalaBridget]

Edit

[Eve_]

^ Why did you put this in the racing thread?
The Dempsey Challenge has nothing to do with racing :look


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So Team Seattle (the Le Mans team ) will be sharing DR's car for the test days in December. Their car will be finished for the January test days.
I kinda hate that they'll have to share seat time with Joe, Patrick and who knows who else (probably Charles), it means Paddy will get less seat time
...I still don't know if he'll be there for the December test days though. I am hoping he will be!!! Grey's is on hiatus afterall so I don't see why he can't be there.

[WalaBridget]

LOL it was suppose to be in the news threads
I will move it

[Bella Cullen]

Thanks for the new bit

[Eve_]

Mazda’s Patrick Dempsey, Joe Foster and Dempsey Racing Turn in Best Season Yet in 2009 Grand-Am Rolex Series GT
- Wrap-up of the 2009 season.

Team and Drivers Looking Forward To 2010 after Joining Ranks of GT Podium Contenders ATLANTA (November 25, 2009) – Dempsey Racing and lead drivers Patrick Dempsey and Joe Foster gave Mazda another top challenger in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series in 2009 with career-best performances for both the team and its drivers in the GT class of Grand-Am Road Racing’s top division this season. The Dempsey Racing team, Dempsey, Foster and frequent stand-in driver Charles Espenlaub combined to post career-high race, qualifying and championship results in the No. 40 Dempsey Racing Mazda RX-8 GT this year and the goal is to carry that momentum into the 2010 Grand-Am Rolex Series season. Dempsey Racing contested the full Grand-Am Rolex Series schedule for the first time in 2009 after debuting the now familiar No. 40 Mazda RX-8 GT late in 2007 at Miller Motorsports Park. A solid record of seven top-10 finishes in this year’s 12 races produced a team-best eighth-place showing in the final Grand-Am Rolex Series GT season championship standings and over a halfdozen other career milestones for the team and its drivers along the way. The team’s most significant development of the year was the emergence of Dempsey who put in the best season of his driving career. The popular star of the hit ABC television show Grey’s Anatomy once again had to juggle his race schedule with the demands of his Hollywood “day job,” but that didn’t prevent the fifth-year driver from reaching new heights on the track in 2009 with a string of competitive performances, including strong stints in treacherous wet conditions at New Jersey and Mid Ohio. “First of all, just being able to race with what is going on in the economy is a blessing,” said Dempsey after last month’s season-ending race at the Grand Prix of Miami. “The way the team has come along has been incredible. When we looked at our goals in the first part of the year, we just wanted to be competitive and I think we showed that day in and day out. I was out of the car for a number of races and when I got back in it was very competitive. The team never quit working and we will continue that focus and build for next year.” Dempsey teamed with Foster in more than half of this year’s races and joined his co-driver in giving Dempsey Racing a then season-best sixth-place finish at Mid-Ohio in June. The result is Dempsey’s career-best Grand-Am Rolex Series finish to date and he was also behind the wheel of the Mazda for three more of the team’s top-10 showings this year. Foster, the 2008 Grand-Am KONI Challenge Series GS Champion, also recorded career-best GT results this year as the team’s anchor driver at all 12 events. Just two races after the strong run with Dempsey at Mid-Ohio, Foster joined Espenlaub for a breakout weekend at Barber Motorsports Park in July. Foster started on the GT front row after a personal and team-best second-place qualifying effort and then co-drove to a fourth-place finish in the race with Espenlaub, the best finish ever for Dempsey Racing. Foster and Espenlaub duplicated the top race result just two races later at Montreal while closing fast on the leaders as the checkered flag flew. Foster also put the No. 40 Mazda on the outside front row for the second time in 2009 when he qualified second fastest for the next-to-last race of the season at Miller in September. “This season was very rewarding, which is nice, because all of your hard work doesn’t necessarily pay off all of the time with positive results in racing,” Foster said. “But we proved this year that if you put the right mix of equipment and people together with a solid and non-stop effort, you have a much better chance at coming out on top. Mazda and SpeedSource gave us great equipment, Patrick has never driven better and Charles is as good as any driver in the business. Most importantly the Dempsey Racing team raised its game in terms of engineering, pit stops and all the details required to run near the front each week. We were knocking on a topthree finish more than once this year and finishing on the podium – and even a race win – is the goal in 2010.” Dempsey Racing’s great season also included a top-10 finish in June’s 24 Hours of Le Mans where Dempsey and Foster combined to drive more than 20 hours. Along with teammate Don Kitch Jr., they finished ninth in the GT2 class in the No. 81 Dempsey Racing/Team Seattle Ferrari F430 GT. The team hopes to return to Le Mans this June where Dempsey and his teammates will be looking to improve on the strong rookie result. On the Grand-Am Rolex Series front, Dempsey Racing will be back for its third season and fourth consecutive year with Mazda. Dempsey and Foster will be the primary co-drivers of the No. 40 Mazda RX-8 GT and the team hopes to field a second RX-8 GT for the entire 2010 season. “Joe and the team have done a great job to push the 40 towards the front, Mazda has been very supportive and it’s great to be racing in the Grand-Am Rolex Series,” Dempsey said. “It is really like a family here in this series and I just had a blast all year. It has been a great time and I just can’t thank everybody enough to just have the chance to participate in this great series and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. We went to work on our 2010 plans while we were still in Miami right after the race and the hard work will continue in the short off season.” Support for Dempsey Racing comes from Mazda, El Grado Spirits and Specialized Bicycles. Check out Patrick Dempsey talking about racing in this special In Your Own Words video at GRAND-AM Road Racing - Official Web Site. NOTEWORTHY Patrick Dempsey and last month’s Dempsey Challenge will be featured this Thanksgiving weekend on ABC's hit show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. The episode will air this Sunday, November 29, at 8 p.m. (ET/PT) on ABC. Dempsey, Foster and other members of the Dempsey Racing team – competing under the name “The Dempsey Racers ZOOM ZOOM” – rode bicycles in the Dempsey Challenge in support of the Dempsey Center for Cancer Hope & Healing, in Lewiston, Maine. During the event, Dempsey and his teammates were paid a visit by the Marshalls, a New Hampshire family whose 10-year-old son Cam is battling leukemia. In response to his illness, Cam used his blood type and outlook on life to create "B Positive," an initiative for Children's Hospital at Dartmouth. During the family’s surprise visit, Dempsey met the members of the Marshall family and spoke with Cam about the importance of maintaining a positive attitude. Specialized Bicycles, a proud Dempsey Challenge partner and sponsor of Dempsey Racing, provided each of the Marshall children with a brand new bicycle. The entire Dempsey Challenge event generated almost $1 million for the Dempsey Center.